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It’s awards season; that time of year when the Super Bowl is the one thing strong enough to interrupt Hollywood’s narcissistic red-carpet events and fancy afterparties. The Golden Globes aired just a few weeks ago, with much of the attention focused on the #MeToo Movement that swept the film industry after Harvey Weinstein and dozens of others were accused of sexual harassment, and even rape by an astonishing number of women working in Hollywood. Last nights Screen Actors Guild Awards, however, saw a more typical type of awards show than what we saw at the Golden Globes. Continue reading →

With Daniel Craig (Layer Cake, Quantum of Solace) sadly stepping down from the role, speculation continues to circle the web as to who is going to replace him as the world’s most famous spy. Although MGM had reportedly offered Craig £68 million for a further two films, plus shares, inside reports have stated that Craig is simply done with the role, and is moving on. And so now must producers Barbara Broccoli (GoldenEye, The World is Not Enough) and Michael G. Wilson (For Your Eyes Only, License to Kill), along with the heads at MGM, decide on a new actor to further the franchise. The favored choice, at least according to all the rumors, is Avengers and High-Rise actor Tom Hiddleston, who has thus far denied all of the rumors, but who, I’m sure, is not completely against the idea. Another name that has come up is Aiden Turner (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Poldark), but according to a more recent report from the Daily Mail, Billy Eliot and Nymphomaniac star Jamie Bell is in actual talks with the producers to take over the role. Continue reading →

After Creed and how many Rocky movies? we thought Hollywood might give the underdog boxing story a break, but nevertheless, a new drama titled Hands of Stone is opening in theaters this August. Written and directed by Jonathan Jakubowicz (Ships of Hope, Secuestro express), the film follows the life and career of boxing legend Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel and how they would forever influence each other’s lives. Starring in the respective leads are actors Edgar Ramírez (The Counselor, Joy), and Robert De Niro (American Hustle, Silver Lining’s Playbook), who are supported by Ana de Armas (Knock Knock, Exposed), Jurnee Smollett-Bell (Eve’s Bayou, The Great Debaters), Ellen Barkin (Sea of Love, Ocean’s Thirteen), and John Turturro (Mr. Deeds, Transformers). The trailer is available here on MADE. Look for additional trailers coming out soon!

Comedy power-couple Melissa McCarthy (The Heat, Spy) and writer/director Ben Falcone (Bridesmaids, Enough Said) will be back on big screens this Friday with a new comedy called The Boss. The two co-wrote the screenplay with longtime collaborator Steve Mallory (Tammy, Identity Thief) about an industry titan who is sent to prison for insider training and runs into some old colleagues who haven’t so quickly forgotten how she screwed them over. Starring alongside McCarthy are actors Kristen Bell (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Frozen), Peter Dinklage (The Station Agent, Game of Thrones), Ella Anderson (The Giant Mechanical Man, Unfinished Business), Tyler Labine (Tucker and Dale vs Evil, Rise of the Planet of the Apes), and Kathy Bates (Misery, Titanic). Although McCarthy comedies tend to be either hit or miss, this one will still make a fun date night for the weekend, so see it on the big screen starting this Friday, April 8th.

Now that the Star Wars bubble has burst, it’s time to look forward to this week’s Christmas Day releases. The first up is one we’ve been waiting for since last Christmas, when a version of the script was leaked and writer/director Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained) was urged to file a lawsuit over the incident. The Hateful Eight is the eighth writing/directing project from Tarantino and is another Western outing that takes place in post-Civil War Wyoming, where a group of bounty hunters are forced to seek shelter from a blizzard, only to find themselves in a game of betrayal and deception. This time out, Tarantino’s stylistic approach to filmmaking will be backed by a full score from Oscar-winning composer Ennio Morricone, whose last Western-film score went to 1975’s A Genius, Two Friends, and an Idiot, but he is more famously known in the Western genre for his contributions to films like A Fistful of Dollars (1964), The Good The Bad and the Ugly (1966), and Once Upon A Time in the West (1968). Continue reading →

This week will see a whole collection of independent limited releases happening across the country. First on the list is The Big Short from director Adam McKay (Anchorman, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby), starring Christian Bale (The Dark Knight, American Hustle), Steve Carell (The Office, Seeking A Friend for the End of the World), Ryan Gosling (Drive, The Place Beyond the Pines), and Brad Pitt (Babel, By The Sea). The film, based on the novel by Michael Lewis, follows four friends who predicted the housing market collapse in the mid 2000s and bet against the odds with the national banks, becoming nearly instant millionaires. The film was last seen at the AFI Film Festival in LA earlier this year, and a further nationwide expansion is still expected for 2016. Continue reading →

A new action-thriller titled No Escape from writer/director John Erick Dowdle (Quarantine, As Above So Below) is now playing on big screens nationwide. Starring Owen Wilson (Wedding Crashers, Midnight in Paris) and Lake Bell (Million Dollar Arm, In A World…), the film centers on an American couple and their children living in a SE Asian country who must flee to the American Embassy when a war breaks out between the local military and radical protesters taking to the streets. Golden Globe nominee Pierce Brosnan (GoldenEye, Die Another Day) and actor/producer Sahajak Boonthanakit (Elephant White, Only God Forgives) also appear in the supporting cast. The film was originally slated for a February release under the name The Coup but was pushed back for a Fall release instead. Director Dowdle and his brother Drew (who lent a hand in writing the script) are also producing the project through their company Dowdle Brothers Productions, along with The Weinstein Company and Bold Films. The trailer is available here on MADE. Enjoy!

Yesterday writer/director Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained) released the first trailer for his upcoming western The Hateful Eight. The film is credited as Tarantino’s eighth film and as many of you know has already undergone its fair share of controversy. The initial screenplay was leaked to the public on Gawker earlier this year and Tarantino’s filing a lawsuit against them was highly publicized in the press (to his own dismay). But since then the director has completed his final written script and with filming complete, he appeared at this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego to showcase the movie with a whole 7-minute clip and a discussion about shooting on 70mm film instead of conforming to the film industry’s shift to digital filmmaking, which he has stated may drive him to leave filmmaking altogether (but nothing is yet set in stone). As for the new movie, it will stand as Tarantino’s second venture into the Western genre and this time will even feature a score (the first of his films to do so) by composer Ennio Morricone, who first achieved fame as a composer for westerns on legendary director Sergio Leone‘s A Fistful of Dollars and The Good The Bad and The Ugly. Making up the cast for Hateful Eight include Tarantino regulars Samuel L. Jackson (Jackie Brown, Django Unchained), Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction), and Michael Madsen (Kill Bill Vol. 1-2), plus actors Kurt Russell (Escape From New York, Death Proof), Walton Goggins (Miracle at St. Anna’s, Sons of Anarchy), Jennifer Jason Leigh (Road to Perdition, The Machinist), Zoe Bell (Grindhouse, Inglorious Basterds), and Oscar-nominee Bruce Dern (Monster, Nebraska). You can see the new trailer here on MADE. The Hateful Eight will be opening on big screens nationwide January 8, 2016, with a limited release happening this Christmas Day. Stay tuned!

Today the comic world will get the chance to redeem a classic comic film adaptation that was all but ruined with the original attempts 10 years ago with Jessica Alba and Michael Chiklis. The all new Fantastic Four film from director Josh Trank (The Kill Point, Chronicle) is now playing in theaters, and fans everywhere are in high hopes that the new film will redeem the popularity of the series after a sequel to 2007’s Rise of the Silver Surfer never made it to the big screen. Making up the new group of heros are actors Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now, Divergent), Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station, That Awkward Moment), Kate Mara (Iron Man 2, Transcendence), and Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot, King Kong), with Reg E. Cathey (American Psycho, House of Cards), Toby Kebbell (Wrath of the Titans, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) and Tim Blake Nelson (Oh Brother Where Art Thou?, Lincoln) joining the supporting cast. Director Trank wrote the screenplay for the new film with writers Simon Kinberg (Sherlock Holmes, X-Men: Days of Future Past) and Jeremy Slater (The Lazarus Effect), which sees the group of youngsters transported to an alternate dimension, strangely altering their physical compositions and providing them with abilities they will need to save the world from a former friend-turned-enemy after he followed them through the dimensional shift. The trailer is available here on MADE. Enjoy!

Actor Leonard Nimoy, who portrayed Spock in the original Star Trek television series in the 1960s, died this week at the age of 83 in Los Angeles. Nimoy began his career as a regular guest on popular TV shows in the 1950s and early 60s, including The Untouchables, Get Smart, and The Twilight Zone. His breakthrough role came when he was noticed on an episode of The Lieutenant, which earned him the role of Spock in Star Trek, which he would be bound to for the rest of his life. Nimoy portrayed the character of Spock virtually for the rest of his career; he starred in the original TV series and the motion-picture series, even directing the third and fourth films, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The actor was also an avid photographer and studied at UCLA, later publishing several controversial photography collections titled The Shekhina Project and another called The Full Body Project. His final acting role was as scientist William Bell on the Fox-network drama Fringe, but he also made a special appearance in director J.J. Abrams‘ 2009 re-boot film Star Trek, and again in Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013). Nimoy leaves behind his wife Susan and his son and daughter Adam and Julie; may he rest in peace.